Blink-182 draw the crowds at final night of festival

Published 30 Aug 2010 09:30 0 Comments

AS the final day of Reading Festival drew to a close, grubby festivalgoers converged at the main stage for the much-anticipated return of pop-punk band Blink-182.

Following a three-year break up the band reformed last year and judging from last night’s reception, it is a very welcome return. A packed crowd sang along to their string of hits including ‘What’s My Age Again?’ and the more down tempo ‘I Miss You’, while Tom DeLonge playfully bantered with the audience.

Excitement for Blink-182’s return kept many people away from the other headliners which included Roots Manuva on the Dance stage and Klaxons in the NME tent.

However, Klaxons had a dedicated group of fans that danced along to every track of their atmospheric set which at some points felt like a rave.

Mid-afternoon Limp Bizskit took the crowd back a decade by playing their rap metal hits from the late 90s/early 2000s, in what was one of the best received sets of the day.

The massive crowd at the main stage sang along to every song, hands punching the air as excited mosh pits sprung up all around. While the sound was not always that great, lead singer Fred Durst showed that he still knew how to get a crowd riled up and whipped us into a frenzy song after song.

In typical Durst fashion, the baseball-capped singer flirted with the women in the crowd.

He said: “I’ve been walking around and I think there area far more ladies than guys here at the festival, I want to see all those fine ladies,” and with that women began popping up out of the crowd as they were hoisted on to shoulders as far as the eye could see.

Over in the Dance tent, hip hop artist Chiddy Bang got the crowd cheering as he showed off his ad-lib skills, taking subject suggestions from the crowd and weaving them into a flawless rap about ice cream, Harry Potter and people called Allan.

Earlier the BBC introducing stage showcased its third Reading band of the festival, the Peers, following on from the success of Amy’s Ghost and Mr Fogg on Friday.

At just 16 and 17, most of the band mates were celebrating good GCSE results just days before the highlight of their summer. The band only formed in January but they played their alt-rock (or rather, a genre known as shoegaze) songs with a confidence beyond their years, as a group of front row fans sang their lyrics.

Speaking after the show, lead singer and guitarist, Matthew Thomson, 16, from Calcot, said: “It’s pretty crazy, we only formed in January and we have somehow found ourselves at Reading after sending a demo into BBC Introducing in March.

“That was the most people we’ve ever played to and the crowd was great, it was awesome to see the people at the front singing along, I wasn’t expecting that to happen at Reading Festival.”

As the final chords of the festival died away at the end of the night and people began to make their way back to their tents, a high police presence was seen across the campsite area following incidents of tent burning at last year’s festival.

A few campfires were seen amidst the sea of tents but were soon extinguished as police patrolled the site.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 30 Aug 10

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